Quack!
by DonaldDouglasandToby6
Summary: The big engines take advantage of Duck's incident at Tidmouth Tunnel, and Duck tries to redeem himself.


Duck the Great Western Engine is very fond of his branch line. It goes up along the coast of Sodor, and he feels a great responsibility while running it, which is why he was not pleased when he was nearly running late at Tidmouth Hault.

"Come on, come on!" he grumbled as the guard blew her whistle.

Duck started to puff away, wanting desperately to be on time with his train.

"Ugh, I better not get yet another lecture from Gordon because of this..." he grunted as he puffed towards Tidmouth Tunnel.

He could suddenly hear a small quacking sound.

"What was that?" Duck wondered.

Duck's driver heard the noise too and looked out the window to see what it was.

He gasped when he saw a fluffy bird on the rail, blinking.

"Duck on the line!" cried the driver.

"Duck on the line?! Oh no!" the big tank engine groaned.

Duck braked and let off steam, scaring the duck, revealing a family of chicks beneath its wings.

"Oh botheration! Now I'll be late with Gordon's train!" Duck complained.

The duck quacked at Duck, making him scowl.

"Let's just wheesh them away and get it over with, before I'm late any more." he continued.

Duck's driver sighed.

"It's worth a shot, I suppose."

Duck wheeshed steam at the duck, but little did he realize that wheeshing the duck only made it cross.

The duck flew up onto Duck's boiler and started pecking at it. Flicks of paint started to fall off.

"Ow, all right! All right! I'll wait!" Duck grunted.

The duck flew back down and waddled out of the tunnel, with her chicks in tow.

Duck felt very silly as he started to puff out of the tunnel.

"Gordon's going to be so cross..."

At last, Duck finally puffed into Tidmouth.

Just as Duck had feared, Gordon was furious as he had pulled up alongside him.

"And where were you, hmm?" snapped Gordon, "I can't keep myself delayed all the time, you know. I'm big, and important, and-"

"I'm very sorry, Gordon, but there was a bit of an obstacle... At Tidmouth Tunnel..." said Duck meekly.

Gordon squinted his eyes at Duck, not sure if he should believe him.

"What kind of obstacle...?" the big engine demanded.

Duck's face flushed.

"Well, erm... Uh... A family of ducks was crossing the track and uh... One sort of... pecked at me and-"

Before Duck could finish his explanation, Gordon burst into laughter.

"Oh Duck, that's just too rich! A Duck meeting ducks! That just made my day!" he laughed as he puffed away.

"But... my name is Montague- Oh, forget it... Ohh..." groaned Duck; he was sure he'd be the railway's laughing stock.

At Knapford, Gordon puffed next to Henry and James.

They looked curiously at each other, noting Gordon's laughter; usually the big engine was relatively grumpy, so this surprised them.

"What's gotten into you, Gordon?" asked Henry.

"Usually you'd be complaining about something," grinned James.

"What is there to complain about when Duck just met a family of ducks?" chortled Gordon, "Ha, ha, it's so rich! One even pecked at him!"

"Pecked at him? That is funny!" James said.

"Poor ol' Montague!" Henry finished.

"Stop it Henry, you're pointing out his name isn't Duck," Gordon grunted.

"Oh... sorry." said Henry sheepishly.

Soon, word spread. Pretty soon, the whole railway knew about Duck's little incident, and by the time Duck got back to Tidmouth Sheds that night, Henry, Gordon and James were already laughing their buffers off.

Duck looked at the others, worried.

The others notice he's there and grin.

"Oh look, here's the bird himself!" James chortled.

"Clearly not a falcon," grunted Gordon.

"Or a swan!" chuckled Henry, "'Tis a shame!"

"Why are you all teasing Duck?" asked Bear.

"Duck met a duck at Tidmouth Tunnel," James retorted, "Coincidence?"

Emily scoffed.

"Probably..."

"It is clearly a piece of irony," argued Gordon, "A piece that we must exploit."

Emily and Bear simply rolled their eyes.

"Now, listen up," ordered Duck, "You've all had dumb moments. Gordon, you derailed yourself on that old branch line!"

"Wasn't my fault," huffed Gordon, "It's that blasted signalman, I tell you."

"Well, what about you James, when you got yourself covered in fish?"

"Huh! You're just trying to avoid your own problems," sneered James.

Duck was furious.

The next day. Henry, Gordon, and James were at Knapford, waiting for a shunting engine to shunt their trains.

"Where's the shunters?" grumbled James.

"Who knows, James... Probably late, as always," Gordon scoffed.

"It's utterly despicable!"

"Indeed, Henry. Indeed."

Duck's whistle blew as he came to collect a goods train to take to Arlesburgh Junction.

James smirked to Gordon.

Gordon grinned as all three of them looked at Duck.

Duck, realizing what's coming, flinched.

"Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Wheeeeeesh!"

Steam few everywhere and Duck didn't know where was where.

Pretty soon, it was just like Duck's first day on the island, with the big engines laughing at him.

Duck felt very silly indeed.

Dennis rolled by with a train of bricks, chuckling.

"Well then, Mr. Bird, it looks like you can't swim today!"

Duck scowled.

"Oh, stop it, all of you! I won't have it!"

"Whatever, Quackers!" Henry laughed.

"Go lay an egg!" taunted James.

"A duck meeting Duck! How ironic is that? It probably wants you to quack off!

Duck slowly puffed away with his empty ballast trucks, feeling very upset.

At Arlesburgh Junction, Bert and Jock were waiting, with some trucks full of ballast.

Jock was miffed as Bert was arranging the yard.

"I'm a little bit sick of waiting for Duck every day..." Jock complained, "I wanna pull passengers!"

"You'll get your chance eventually," smiled Bert.

Duck's whistle blew in the distance.

"Oh, here he comes now."

"About time..." Jock muttered.

The Great Western engine puffed into the junction with his empty ballast trucks.

He slowly chuffed under the chute while Jock shunted his trucks into place.

The ballast filled the trucks. but Duck was so sad he didn't even notice. But Jock did.

"Come on, Duck. The guard's going to blow his whistle any minute now," Jock said, grinning.

Duck jumped and looked at Jock sheepishly.

"Oh, uh, right..."

Rex puffed in with some passengers and noticed Duck's frown.

He was worried as he steamed alongside Duck.

"What's wrong, Duck?" Rex asked kindly.

Duck sighed

"Not much. It's just that those big engines are a pain in the buffers."

The guard blew his whistle and Duck chuffed sadly away.

Rex looked worriedly to Bert and Jock.

"What do you think he meant by that?"

"Search me," muttered Jock.

Duck was still in low spirits when he arrived at Haultraugh, where Douglas was with some passengers.

Douglas looked at Duck and chuckled.

"Hello, Duck. Ye look a bit doon."

Duck sighed.

"Those big engines always know how to make me upset. It's like my first day all over again," he said sadly.

"Ya mean they know how to 'ruffle yer feathers', heh heh."

Duck scoffed indignantly.

"That's not funny, Douglas."

"Nay Duck, I'm only joking. They say teasey things to ye?"

"Yes, I'm afraid. I need a way to get them to shut up, but not sure how. If I block Tidmouth Sheds again, I'd be in big trouble, and I don't really want that right now."

"Weel, here's my advice. Why don't ya remind them of their accidents?" suggested Douglas, "That works for me."

"That didn't really work for me," Duck countered, "They just avoided the accusations entirely."

Douglas frowned.

"Seems to me ye're not being direct enough to 'em then. Tell 'em to stop being bullies."

"I did that too..."

Douglas blinked.

"Seriously?"

"Unfortunately yes. There's not much else I can do besides take it, which isn't really a good idea," said Duck.

"Hmm... I'll get back to ye if I think of anything. Bye Duck!"

Duck groaned as Douglas started to puff away.

"Well, that was no help."

"I heard that!"

At Bluff's Cove, Oliver's passengers are disembarking as Douglas puffed alongside.

The Caledonian twin sighed.

"Alas, poor Duck..."

"What's wrong with him exactly?" asked Oliver.

"Aye, 'fraid some big engines are messing with 'im. Can't stay to explain though. Got to get this to Tidmouth."

As Douglas puffed away, Oliver frowned, deep in thought.

"Oh no..."

That night. Duck puffed sadly to his branch line shed.

Oliver looked over at Duck, knowing what was up.

"What's the matter, Duck? Those big engines tough on you?" he asked knowingly.

Duck was surprised to find that Oliver was completely on the money.

"Well... yes, exactly. How... did you know?"

"Douglas told me about it," Oliver explained.

"Oh... Ugh, sometimes they're just so immature. But it seems I can't deal with them like I used to. It makes me angry just to think about it. I want to push back, not I'm not sure how."

"Come to think of it, I think I have an idea..."

"Really?"

"Sure, but I can't do it until tomorrow. Until then, let's just get some sleep."

"Oh, alright..."

The two engines went to sleep, one confident, the other... not so much.

The next morning, Oliver opened his eyes and glanced at Duck, who was snoring.

Oliver grinned and left the shed, to speak with the Fat Controller.

At Knapford, the Fat Controller was eating a cinnamon bun as Oliver puffed up.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Oh, uh, yes Oliver?"

"I'd like to bring something to your attention, sir."

"Hmm... Then by all means, Oliver. Do tell."

"Well, sir..."

Later, Duck was puffing along his branch line to Arlesburgh Harbour, so he could collect some tourists.

Duck sighed as he rounded a corner, gasping as he suddenly noticed a flood on the track.

"Driver, stop!" Duck gasped in horror.

"What is it this time?" the driver asked.

"A flood!"

"A flood?!"

The driver put on the brakes, but Duck just had his wheels oiled and they couldn't stop.

"Helllp!" Duck wailed.

The big engine splashed into the water.

Luckily, nothing serious happened, but Duck's fire had gone out, and he couldn't move.

A family of ducks wee swimming there. Duck noticed this and gulped.

"Uh oh..."

The mother looked at Duck and flew up onto his boiler. It sat on it and started to peck at him again.

"Ow, ow, ow! Ow! ...ow."

Duck's driver sighed and walked out of the cab.

He called for help, while the passengers shooed away the ducks.

The mother quacked crossly and flew away. Her ducklings blinked and started to follow.

"Thank goodness..." sighed Duck.

On the phone, the driver was talking into it.

"I'm afraid we only have Oliver to rescue him," said the yardmaster.

"How long will that be?" asked the driver.

"About a half hour or so, perhaps." suggested the yardmaster.

Duck's driver nodded.

"Alright, I'll tell him."

The driver hanged up and looked at Duck.

"Well?"

"Erm, Oliver's coming to get you back onto dry ground."

Duck groaned.

"...oh... yay."

At Tidmouth Yard, Oliver was shunting Toad into a siding.

"And where are you off to, Mr. Oliver?" asked Toad curiously.

"Oh, just getting some coaches for my next train, Toad. Nothing too special."

The yardmaster ran up to Oliver, making the tank engine confused.

"What's wrong, yardmaster?"

"I'm afraid to say this, but Duck's stuck in another flood. You'll have to pull him out."

Oliver grinned.

"Heh heh, well, isn't this surprising? Apparently now I'm doing a rescue operation, Toad!"

"Well, best do it quickly, Mr. Oliver," cautioned Toad.

"Oh, uh, yes Toad."

Oliver whistled and rushed out of the yard to the rescue.

Back at the flood., Duck sighed to himself.

"Oh, will I ever get out of here...?"

Oliver's whistle blew, catching the Pannier tank off guard.

"Oliver?"

When Oliver finally did see Duck, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Oh, no. Not again!"

Duck blushed furiously as Oliver's driver attached a chain between him and Duck.

"I, uh, had an accident. I fell into a flood."

Oliver chuckled

"I can see that. Going for a swim, eh? Leave that to real ducks. Let's get you out of here before you rust."

Duck was a bit ambivalent; he wanted to be cross, but he knew Oliver could just leave him, so in the end, he didn't mind the jab.

Oliver pulled Duck and his coaches back on the rails, out of the flood.

Duck was quite grateful as the fireman started to refuel his fire.

"Thank you, Oliver," he said thankfully, "Ugh, those big engines will tease me for sure though."

"Oh no, they won't!" Oliver smiled.

Duck was rather confused; it wasn't like their attitudes could change overnight.

"What?"

"Oh yes. I talked to the Fat Controller, and he's talked to them. They won't tease you again for a long while, Duck." beamed Oliver.

Duck was beyond delighted at this news.

"Oh, thank you Oliver! I can't thank you enough!"

"Well, us Great Western engines have got to stick together," Oliver chuckled.

"Yes, which reminds me: We better alert the signalman about that flood," Duck decided.

"Good idea."

Oliver backed up to a different line as Duck puffed past.

Eventually, Duck reached a signalbox and whistled to get the signalman's attention.

Inside, the signalman perked up and opened up the window.

He was surprised to find Duck sitting there, idle on the line.

"What's up, Duck? You're supposed to be at the next station by now, surely," said the signalman."

"Yes, but I got stuck in a flood down the line, and I'm worried someone else will too," replied Duck, "Can you switch the points so nobody else's fire gets put out?"

Before the signalman could act, Douglas' whistle was heard, making Duck and Oliver cry out in horror.

"It's Douglas!" shrilled Oliver.

And it was. Douglas was taking a slow goods train to Crosby, but he and his crew blissfully unaware of the danger ahead.

Duck looked back, then looked back up at the signalman.

"Hurry, before Douglas gets here!" Duck cried.

The signalman, sensing the situation is urgent, nodded..

"Right away!"

He pulled a lever, changing the points.

Down the line, Douglas could see the flood ahead.

Douglas gasped.

"Och, a flood's up ahead! Stop!"

The Scottish engine braked as hard as he could, but he couldn't avoid the flood in time.

He shut his eyes tightly.

Just as the situation seemed hopeless, Douglas' wheels swerved onto a siding.

Douglas' eyes popped open in confusion.

"What the?"

Duck and Oliver looked on in horror as Douglas biffed into some buffers, causing his trucks to biff into him.

"Oooh... Bust me buffers... What happened?"

"You nearly fell into a flood; your fire could've been put out!" said Duck.

Douglas was shocked.

"Och na! Mah goods would've bin severely delayed! Thank ye Duck, fur making me oan time."

Duck smiled.

"Oh, it was nothing, Douglas."

"I'd definitely say it was something. Those big engines have no excuse to pick on you now!" Oliver grinned.

Duck felt very proud indeed.

That night, at Tidmouth Sheds, the engines were curious as to why Douglas was so late.

"What happened to you, Douglas?" asked Bear worriedly.

Douglas smiled wryly.

"Aye, nae muckle, thanks tae Duck."

Henry, Gordon and James scoffed.

Huh! What did that quacker do that was so heroic?" James said crossly.

"It's probably just a hoax," Henry snickered.

Emily glared at the two big engines.

You lot have been nothing but rude about Duck! Just let Douglas explain!" she said harshly.

"Weel, 'parntly thare wis a flood alang th' branch line. Ah would've splashed intae it, making mah fire gang oot, if it weren't fur Duck alerting th' signalman," explained Douglas.

The engines were very surprised indeed.

"Amazing!" said Bear.

"Impossible!" stammered Henry.

Gordon suddenly realized something.

"Wait a minute, how can you prove such an ordeal?"

"...hey, that's right! No photographs, video... Nothing!" agreed James.

Douglas was beyond furious now.

"Seriously? Ye expect mah driver tae photie something lik' this?"

"Perhaps..." snorted Henry.

"Ah thought ye ken me weel enough tae ken ah dinnae lie!" Douglas fumed.

Henry, Gordon and James sniffed.

"We still don't buy it..." Gordon scoffed.

"Ugh, your cynicism is getting on my nerves..." grumbled Bear.

"Mine as well...," said Emily gruffly, "You shouldn't lacerate him so much."

"I can confirm it."

The engines looked to Oliver as he backed into another berth.

Gordon squinted and rose an eyebrow.

"Oh really?"

"It's true, I saw the whole thing. Two witnesses is enough to confirm something," responded Oliver.

"Oh... I suppose it is..." Henry spluttered.

Duck's whistle rang out as the big tank engine backed into the final berth.

"Well, well, well. Duck, you are a hero! You saved Douglas!" cried Bear.

"It's all part of doing it the Great Western Way..." Duck said proudly.

Emily smirked to Gordon.

"Think you can give him an apology now, Gordon?"

"Oh yes, that's right. The Fat Controller said you three were supposed to give Duck an apology," Oliver said smugly.

Duck grinned as the big engines faltered over the demand.

"I suppose do we owe you one... We have been a bit... erm... mean," said Henry.

"Personally I wouldn't put it so lightly," said Bear firmly, "but fair enough."

"Hmm... Maybe... Sorry then, Duck," apologized Gordon.

"We shouldn't have made all those duck jokes, even if they were pretty funny," continued James.

"Yes... what they said," finished Henry.

"Ha ha, I've still got it!" Duck laughed.

Everyone laughed into the night, as friendships were mended, heroism was rewarded, and the moon shone.


End file.
